


pulled me out and brought me home

by padfootprophet



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Copious cuddling, Dick loves his kids, Dick may not be Damian's dad, Family Fluff, Gen, Minor Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, but he sort of is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-11-02 03:50:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20612903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootprophet/pseuds/padfootprophet
Summary: With Kory away Dick is struggling to be a good parent and a hero and a functioning human being. Luckily Damian is around to help.





	pulled me out and brought me home

**Author's Note:**

> What comic book canon?  
In my head Mar'i is about six and Damian is about nineteen but you can interpret this how you like.
> 
> Title is from Not Alone by Matt & Kim

Dick is trying to not let his afternoon nap turn into sleeping for fourteen straight hours when the apartment door opens. Not that he was necessarily against the sleep, but he's on the couch and his back would not thank him.

"Kory?" he asks blearily, trying to rub some life back into his eyes, and a little confused because she isn't supposed to be back for another week at least.

A familiar tutting clues him in. "Did you forget you called me earlier?" Damian asks, standing over the end of the couch when Dick blinks enough blurriness from his eyes to register the world again. He hopes it's just the bone deep tiredness and not a sign he needs glasses.

He vaguely remembers, somewhere between coffee five and eight, between day job and night job and single parenting until Kory comes back, calling for help. Help coming in the form of Damian is even vaguer.

Damian moves away, drops something on the kitchen island and asks, "Where is the handful anyway?"

Dick bites back his initial comment, that compared to Damian raising Mar'i is a breeze. It wouldn't be helpful and Damian is here, attempting to _be_ helpful, to be better. "She's supposed to be studying for her spelling test." He yawns and squints at the glowing numbers of the clock on the TV stand. Despite attempts his nap has taken him out for over an hour. At least Mar'i let him sleep. "She's probably playing with the kitten though." He shoots a mildly accusatory glare at Damian; the kitten was his gift and is just adding to the list of things Dick has to take care of.

Damian is back to peering down at him where he lies on the couch. "Do you not want your child to understand the compassion of caring for others?"

"She has well-adjusted parents to teach her that." It's easy enough to pick at Bruce's parenting skills when he's not here. Or Talia's. Dick isn't sure who is responsible for Damian requiring pets to understand emotion but he just hopes it's not him.

Damian scowls, but lets the insult to his parenthood lie. It's a little surprising from the heir to Batman, or whatever else Damian is constantly claiming himself to be, but Dick might just be pathetic enough to have secured some sympathy. Maybe the pet thing is a good idea. Dick heaves himself upright, his back protesting, and hopes Damian's help is going to cover patrolling Blüdhaven, because if he has to step in the middle of one more gang fight his back might give out entirely.

He doesn't need any more reason to feel like he's turning into Bruce.

He looks past Damian to the kitchen counter and the pile of grocery bags. "Did you bring food?"

"Tt. I thought your daughter might appreciate something that requires a little more skill than toast."

Dick tries to roll his joints with a wince. "Don't underestimate my ability to burn toast." He pushes himself from the couch and he's fairly sure his knees crunch. Damian is looking vaguely concerned.

"You need rest."

"What happened to the Robin who refused to take a night off because _crime wouldn't_." He pitches his voice in a poor imitation of ten year old Damian and receives a glare in response.

Damian stares him down, arms folded across his chest. "Maybe I learned something from you."

Dick tries not to feel too much pride; because ten year old Damian would never have admitted Dick taught him anything. He also would have left Dick to stew in his own misery and claimed it was his fault for being unprepared for parenthood. Dick reaches out to ruffle his hair despite the lingering glare and stumbles as he gets tackled around the knees.

He changes directory and ruffles Mar'i's hair instead. "Hey sweetheart," he says to the beaming face at his mid-thigh. "You ready for your spelling test tomorrow?"

"Of course."

She disentangles from Dick and bounds, arms outstretched, towards Damian's legs. He's quicker to react, intercepting to scoop Mar'i up before she can stagger him and holding her out of cuddling reach. Dick's not sure how he can manage to say no, because his kid is _adorable_, but his extra years apparently have not made Damian any more inclined towards Grayson hugs.

Mar'i at least, seems to be enjoying the game of trying to squirm out of Damian's hold to catch him in a hug. It helps that she can fly, or at least float pretty well these days, and isn't all that bothered about being several feet off the ground with nothing but air below her. Dick's still trying to teach her his tricks, but flying without _flying_ seems to be beyond her little grasp.

Damian however is not, as she wriggles free and nestles up against his chest. Damian sighs, exasperated, but his arms come around Mar'i to hold her in place and Dick swears he can see the ghost of a smile on his lips. He feels sentimental in a way that will definitely make Damian retreat into his shell, so he ignores it as best he can.

"I'm going to take a shower," he says instead, "You can watch each other for ten minutes, right?"

"But baba," Mar'i complains, head turning away from Damian to look at him with wide eyes. "You've been sleeping all afternoon and I want to see you."

"I haven't been sleeping _all_ afternoon." Mar'i continues staring and Dick finds himself wishing she wasn't so adorable. He steps close and kisses her forehead. "Ten minutes, I promise."

She looks like she wants to protest more but Damian hikes her a little higher and says, "Come on, you can help me get dinner ready, and by then baba won't smell."

"Hey!" Dick's protest is tempered by his gratefulness that Damian is here, and he will accept insults to his personal hygiene if it means not being alone in this for a night. Kory's only been gone a week and a half and Dick is not as good at this as he likes to think. He ruffles Mar'i's hair once more, and then Damian's for good measure, because his arms are too full of child to retaliate, and then he goes to take a shower and wash the nap funk off himself.

He's towelling his hair dry less than ten minutes later, feeling a touch more awake as he heads back to the living room and his family. Mar'i is sat on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs and watching Damian chopping vegetables with complete focus. She's so preoccupied Dick manages to get all the way next to her before she notices.

"Baba!" she shrieks, legs kicking more wildly. Damian tenses, but the knife he's holding doesn't slip a hair. Still, Dick is aware that Mar'i's excitement combined with kitchen knives is probably asking for trouble, even if he'd trust Damian to handle that knife with more care than just about anyone else he knows. He scoops his daughter off the counter and into his arms, shaking a little water from his hair into her face. She shrieks again, the sound dissolving into giggles.

"I'm supervising," she says proudly, turning her attention back to Damian and the growing selection of chopped vegetables.

"Yeah? Can you spell that?"

Her brow pinches a little. "S-U-P-E-R, uh, V-E-"

"I." It's the only acknowledgement that Damian is paying attention to what's happening in the kitchen at all. "V-_I_."

Mar'i pouts. "That's not on my spelling test."

"Okay, sweetheart. What _is_ on your spelling test?" Dick asks, bouncing her where she's rested against his hip.

"Uh, beetle," she says after a moment, smile returning, "B-E-E-T-L-E."

"Ooh, that's a tough one."

Damian huffs a laugh and for a second Dick is worried he has to talk to him about realistic expectations for children, and possibly how his childhood was completely devoid of them, but Damian just looks over with a smile and says, "You're smarter than your baba, that's for sure."

"But he's the smartest person I know!" Mar'i protests on Dick's behalf. He cuddles her a little tighter as she makes a thoughtful noise and adds, "After mama. And you." Dick feels a little less defended, but at least he's beaten out several adults in Mar'i's life. "And grandpa, and Alfie."

"Alright, I'm starting to feel not so smart," Dick says, before she starts listing the rest of his family, or anyone else. Mar'i giggles and he nuzzles against her before depositing her on the counter again. He nabs a piece of carrot without getting stabbed and asks, "Anything I can do to help?"

Damian shakes his head, scowling. "You can help by staying out of my way. Mar'i is already a far better assistant in the kitchen than you." His glare softens into a much kinder expression. "Go sit down, you're supposed to be resting."

Dick smiles, filled with pride and happiness that Damian's here all over again. He kisses Mar'i's forehead and heads back to the couch, content to sit and listen to Damian teaching his daughter how to cook. He almost drops off, still so tired and lulled by the happy chattering coming from the kitchen. His eyes are closed when he gets a lapful of daughter.

"Dami says you can't go to sleep because dinners almost ready," she informs him cheerily.

"I'm not sleeping." Dick cracks one eye open to look at Mar'i. For a second Dick is filled with worry: that she doesn't know how loved she is, that she's not having the best childhood possible, that with everything going on he's neglecting her somehow. That last one especially. He curls his arms around her, and she settles against him. "I love you, sunshine," he says.

She hugs him tight in response. "I love you too, baba."

It's easy enough to scoop her up, despite how much she's grown she still sits easily in his arms, legs braced at his waist, arms around his shoulders. Dick carries her to the kitchen where Damian is slowly stirring a pot. "And I love you, kiddo."

Damian glances his way. "I am hardly a child anymore," he says, eyes flickering to Mar'i who is watching him almost expectantly. He looks away again. "I love you too, baba." His voice is quiet, his affection still hard to draw to the surface. Dick would have been content in the knowledge that Damian's presence here was proof of his love, hearing him say as much was a gift. Mar'i seems less surprised, but she's used to the open affection of her parents, and Damian has a tendency to dote on her despite any protests.

He bends to set Mar'i down and Damian narrows his eyes suspiciously. "What are you doing?" Dick just grins, stooping again to wrap his arms around the back of Damian's thighs. "I am _taller_ than you, Grayson," Damian protests loudly. It does nothing to stop Dick from lifting Damian into his hold, and Damian, conscious of Dick's aching joints, or maybe just more accepting of this than he seems, sighs before shifting so his bent knees set his weight against Dick's hips and his arms wrap around his shoulders.

"Never too old or too tall for cuddles," Dick says, smiling against Damian's shoulder. Mar'i laughs with delight, and the message is as much for her as Damian, because Dick has no doubt that like her mother she'll end up taller than him. He has an entirely selfless desire to be able to hold his family until he's old and grey.

He lets Damian go after a few more seconds and tries not to laugh at the warring emotions playing across his face: embarrassment certainly, but also traces of joy, and what is probably concern.

"You're ridiculous," Damian complains, turning back to the pot on the stovetop.

Mar'i tugs at his trouser leg. "I also love you," she says.

She's rewarded by being lifted into Damian's arms once more, and he hides his smile in her bushy black hair. "I love you most of all," he says quietly, like it's a secret that Dick can't hear. He continues to hold her as he stirs their dinner a few more times, and Dick sneaks his phone out to take a picture because he cannot think of a time this sight won't make him smile.

He fetches three plates from a kitchen cabinet and for the moment doesn't feel restless.


End file.
